


In the Balance

by hawkster55



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Danny-centric, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Episode: s06e25, Episode: s06e25 O Ke Ali'i Wale No Ka'u Makemake (My Desire is Only for the Chief)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 04:17:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14300607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawkster55/pseuds/hawkster55
Summary: Pulling that trigger would be an admission that Steve's gone, and Steve is not gone.Set during 6x25, a peek into Danny's head while he's hunting down the guy that shot Steve.





	In the Balance

**Author's Note:**

> I just watched 6x25, and the whole time Danny was standing over that guy with a gun, I couldn't work out whether he was going to shoot him or not (Scott Caan is amazing wtf). So here's my thoughts on the matter, hope y'all find them interesting/entertaining/acceptable? Let me know what you think.

There's a firefight going on behind him, but Danny only has eyes for that one hobbling figure amidst the dust and smoke. He strides straight through the gunfire, paying it no attention, reloading his pistol as he goes. He's in no rush, there's no sense of urgency. Just cool, collected, single-minded focus.

In front of him, the guy falls to the floor. Falls, rolls over, and fires a shot way wide.

Danny doesn't flinch.

He pulls the trigger, hits the guy square in the shoulder. Kicks the firearm out of reach. Stands over him, pistol aimed directly at his head.

"Do it. Go ahead."

He can't pull the trigger.

He doesn't know why. He's done this before, shown himself to be more than capable of putting rounds in the head of a criminal out of cold blood. He's brought retribution crashing down harder than any officer of the law should have the right to, and he's woken up breathless in the middle of the night knowing that he'd have done the same thing every time. He knows the rage he's feeling, knows the pain of losing a brother far more intimately than he'd like, knows that pulling the trigger brings no closure, no release, and yet he's still urging himself to do it. He sees Steve, pale, gasping and bloodstained in his mind's eye, and there's nothing he wants more than to put this scum in the ground for what he's done.

"Do it."

Suddenly the face below him morphs into the sneering visage of Marco Reyes, and Danny has to turn away, sick to his stomach of all of this. He makes it maybe three paces before he's back, gun leveled once again at the guy who shot Steve, appearance restored, who's staring up at him expectantly. But Danny can't seem to keep his aim steady, can't send the command to his finger to end this guy's sorry existence. Can't stop thinking that maybe there's a reason that he's been here before, tidying up the mess, the common factor doing far too little far too late after failing to protect a brother.

It's different this time, though, because he can't finish this. Pulling that trigger would be an admission that Steve's gone, and Steve is not gone. It's not over until Danny lets it be, and he can't do that. Not to Steve.

His chest is nearly unbearably tight as he turns back to Chin, Kono, Grover and the cavalry running up behind him, concern dominating their gazes. There's hot air and smoke wafting into his lungs from the burning helicopter, and he doesn't think he can breathe well enough to say anything, to explain himself to them. His phone rings just as they reach him, and he's almost grateful for the escape as he listens numbly to the hospital staff telling him just how critical Steve's condition is. But critical means still alive, and still alive means there's still hope, more hope than Matty was ever offered.

Danny forces himself to shove the pressure on his throat and chest aside and summons the adrenaline pumping through his veins to keep himself on his feet. He knows there will be a spectacular mental breakdown headed his way later on, and he'll make time for it when it happens. Right now he has one priority.

"It's Steve. Come on."


End file.
